Two Jacks and a Queen
by DragonDancer5150
Summary: When two eccentric geniuses meet, look out! TF half is G1 cartoon continuity. COMPLETE


Author's Notes – Gift-fic for my fabulous friend and beta, MyAibou. Please forgive any problems with this, as it's unbeta'd . . . since I wanted this to be a surprise. XD LUV YA, BB! :hearts!:

Disclaimer – "Danny Phantom" and all related characters, events, and concepts belong to Butch Hartman and Nickelodeon. "Transformers" and all related characters, events, and concepts belong to Hasbro, Takara, and any other related owners/distributors/producers. I get no monetary benefit from this. My benefit is the enjoyment of dealing with beloved characters.

"Two Jacks and a Queen"  
by DragonDancer5150

Danny sat on the curb to one side of the driveway, chin in his hands, elbows on his knees. Tucker sat next to him, even though there was all manner of what others no doubt would consider "cool tech" being strewn pretty much all over the driveway itself. Danny found that a little weird, that Tucker wasn't in the middle of it, but not really, not much. After all, most of it was all ghost hunting equipment like he and Tucker both had been using for two years now. No, what he found far weirder – like, size-of-Pariah-Dark weird – was who, and _what_, sat on his other side.

"I should have known it was a mistake to introduce those two."

Danny looked up – and up – at the massive figure sitting next to him opposite Tucker. It looked like someone had taken apart some hospital's ambulance and rearranged the pieces to make a giant robot.

As the old saying went, though, the truth was stranger than fiction.

"I take it Wheeljack is always this, um, excitable, Ratchet?" Tucker asked. Danny could hear the amused grin in his tone.

The giant robot – _Cybertronian_, Danny reminded himself – rolled his eyes – _'cameras'? 'optics'?_ – and nodded. "Pretty much. That's 'Jack for you, though." Ratchet blew air through his vents like a sigh, then looked down at Danny with a mixture of amusement and sympathy on his metal face. "Seems to be a common 'mad scientist-inventor' trait, if I had to guess from your father's behavior."

Danny winced. "Yeah, I guess." He turned to look at the two loudly animated people behind him.

His father, Jack Fenton, stood in the middle of a veritable mountain of gadgets and machinery of all shapes, sizes, colors, and frankly, states of actual usefulness. It looked to Danny like he must have dragged the entire contents of the basement laboratory up here to show off, and Danny's dad himself was like a geek showing off his prized collection of rare fandom collectibles. The most notable machine, however, was the only one _not_ part of the collection. Another giant robot sat crouched on a knee next to the pile. Even hunched over, he towered over Danny's father, who was himself a mountain of a man at six-and-a-half feet tall and almost as wide. The Autobots' chief engineer was, oddly enough – at least to Danny – just as excited about all the sundry gadgets as his dad was.

"Jack!"

Danny had been just as absorbed as the two engineers and hadn't seen his mother, Maddie, come out of the house through the garage. He hid a grin behind his hand at the sight of both his father and the massive Autobot jumping at the sharp exclamation, looking equally as sheepish.

Maddie looked up at the robot with a friendly grin on her face. "Not you, sweetheart." Her look turned more stern as she swiveled it around to her husband. "Jack Fenton, you are supposed to be helping him figure out how to modify _their_ weapons to work against ghosts, not playing show-and-tell with your own!"

That was news to Tucker, who'd only arrived a half-hour ago, well after the geek-fest had started. "I thought they were here to help us fight the Decepticons, Mrs. Fenton."

Danny's mom nodded, glancing at both Wheeljack and Ratchet before looking again at Tucker. "They are, but the Decepticons are here after the ghosts and the energy of their ghost powers. I really don't think the ghosts are going to take that very well, and they won't be able to tell the good robots from the bad ones."

"Ah, but that's easy, Maddie," Wheeljack chirped, pointing at the red face-design on his chest. "The good guys wear these."

She frowned, lips pursing. "Even so, Wheeljack, I doubt they'd care. Ghosts are just as destructive and careless of humans as Decepticons."

Danny had to bite back a comment about that, that not all ghosts were. He glanced to see if either of the Autobots would comment either. Both exchanged looks with him and wisely kept their silence, merely nodding.

"Well, anyway..." Wheeljack pulled a pistol from seemingly nowhere – Danny had learned the robots had an ability to create and store things in what they called "subspace", which was a pocket of personal space they carried around with them. Or something. "Wanna take a look at this an' we'll see what we can do ta modify it?"

Danny watched his father's eyes light up at the reality of getting his hands on honest-to-goodness alien technology. "Oh, boy, do I ever!"

"Now, Jack..."

"I know, I know."

"It's okay, Maddie," Wheeljack reassured her. "I'll help make sure he stays on task."

Danny heard Ratchet snort at that. He sighed, thinking just how long this could take. And it wasn't like he really needed to be there. He pushed to his feet. "Hey, Tuck, how about a trip to Nasty Burger."

Tucker grinned and hopped up. "Sure thing! I'll get my scooter."

"Actually, Tucker, here's a better idea." Ratchet was grinning, looking just as ready for a change of scenery. "I'll drive."

Danny and Tucker exchanged looks, both grinning. Danny nodded. "You're on!"


End file.
